One of the key moments at Saturday's IFTA Film and Drama Awards will be the result of the Rising Star category – and Paddy Gibson's blown away to be a nominee.
Still only 21, the Dubliner has enjoyed a fruitful last year or so and came to prominence on Netflix sci-fi drama The OA, which began streaming its debut season just before last Christmas.
Next Thursday, he'll feature in Sky/Showtime's Guerrilla, which stars Idris Elba and will be broadcast on Sky Atlantic. He's also just finished a film with Emma Roberts, the Scream Queens' star whose aunt is Julia Roberts. Paddy's doing alright.
"The last year, since last February," he reckons is the timeframe where things have moved up a notch or two in his career. "I was in LA in January and February for a film called I'm in a Relationship, which is with Emma Roberts."
Paddy's impressed with her. "She's great," he insists. "She's genuinely such a lovely girl. As were all the guys on that. So we had a really fun time. It was a 20-day shoot and should be out next year."
And while he's busy carving out a career for himself in Hollywood, he's genuinely thrilled to be back home in his native city for this year's IFTA Film and Drama Awards at Dublin's Mansion House.
Nominated for the Rising Star Award, he's in good company as his fellow contenders are director Peter Foott and actors Barry Keoghan and Seana Kerslake. Paddy's genuinely blown away by it all.
"I'm bringing my mum along, and my agent's going to be there," he says. "And honestly, it's something I never expected or even thought about. I'm not 'I dreamt about this all my life' but it's really nice to get this recognition, and mainly from home, where I'm from.
"It's also great that this particular award is sponsored by Irish Film Board," he adds. "It means an awful lot. It's really exciting."
From next Thursday, TV viewers can catch him in Guerrilla, a miniseries on Sky Atlantic about a pair of activists in 1970s London set out to free a political prisoner and wage a resistance movement.
It stars Idris Elba and Freido Pinto and Paddy's smile broadens out at the mere mention of the show. "I'm really looking forward to seeing that," he says.
"What [director] John Ridley did with it, I think is going to be really special, because he focuses on actors and their performances. He's got a really close eye for detail.
"All of the guys in it are really amazing, and it's kind of a story that hasn't been, in this day and age, really been explored. That black power movement in London in the 1970s."
As for The OA, well Paddy Gibson doesn't have an awful lot to say about the upcoming second run of the show, which has yet to go into production.
"Yeah," he laughs. "I don't know anything about next season. Sure we'll see. Time will tell. I'm just excited to hear more of the story."
And regardless of what happens at the IFTAs, Paddy will have little time to spare before heading back to Tinseltown, where he's filming the next chapter of Project Paddy. This lad isn't one for relaxation!
"At the moment I'm shooting Darkest Minds, and that's with Fox," he explains. "It's hopefully going to be a trilogy. It's directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson, who's amazing.
"She created all the Kung Fu Panda movies, and Madagascar and those – but this is not animation. This is her first live-action film, and it's based on a trilogy of books, and it's a dystopian young adult story."
With a little chuckle, he adds: "The story's mad. It's a totally different world, going from doing I'm in a Relationship is a tiny indie film, and this is a studio film. It's interesting, but at the end of the day you're doing the same job."
